Contains Spoiler . . .Liana Liberato was was around 15 years old acting in this movie. As the story unfolds, the father's ad agency sexualized kids, and the father started to realize this sobering fact after his daughter was sexually assaulted. The movie Trust sexualizes Liberato in real life just like the story line. I appreciate Schwimmer's reason to make the film, but I wonder if he ever thought . . . holy crap I'm adding to the mess.

David Schwimmer does a decent job of directing "Trust," from 2010, with a marvelous cast consisting of Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Liana Liberato, and Viola Davis.Owen and Keener are Will and Lynn, who have a boy about to go off to college, a beautiful 14-year-old daughter, Annie, and a little girl. It's very important for Annie to fit in at school -- she wants to be liked by the "in" crowd. One night she goes to a party and becomes uncomfortable when she realizes the girls there are much more sexualized than she is. She's still a virgin.Annie has been in a teen chat room talking to a guy named Charlie for a couple of months. She believes him to be 16. He confesses that he lied and he's really 20. Later, he says he's 25. He comes into town to meet her, and they meet in a mall. She is shocked when she sees him -- he's closer to 35.Charlie convinces her to go to a motel with him, and he rapes her. She tells her best friend, Bridget, about her experience, and Bridget goes to the school principle. The police are called, and Annie has to submit to a rape kit, the FBI is brought in, and her parents are informed.Annie is livid with her parents, drops Bridget as a friend and becomes increasingly more angry and sullen, especially when she is unable to talk to Charlie -- he hangs up when he realizes his call is being traced. She doesn't believe he's a predator For Annie, this is a boyfriend - he tells her she's beautiful and special, he gets her. Meanwhile, Will is torturing himself with his obsession over his daughter's rape and is determined to find "Charlie" and kill him. A somewhat predictable film enlivened by an excellent cast. The standout is Liana Liberato, who captures every emotion of Annie's. Most impressive is while she's begging Charlie to get off of her, her face suddenly changes, and you know she has totally distanced herself from the situation. Clive Owen is effective as a loving father who believes that he's failed. He's preparing an ad campaign for the "tween" market showing teens looking very provocative. He becomes aware of teens being oversexualized and the predators who seduce them, playing into their loneliness and insecurities.The end of the film is quite chilling."Trust" shows that along with the virtues of technology, there are a lot of sins, and parents have to have the wiles of a snake and constantly monitor their kids. Anybody can pose as someone else, send fake photos, say all the right things, and take away a young girl's innocence.I have to agree this was a little on the Hallmark Movie side -- it's one of those films where if they hadn't assembled the cast they did, it could have been a TV movie. Still, it was a good watch.

Annie (Liana Liberato) is a Chicago suburban teen with loving parents Will (Clive Owen) and Lynn (Catherine Keener). She's constantly online chatting with Charlie from California. First he tells her that he's actually 20. With her parents away with her older brother visiting a college, she decides to meet Charlie (Chris Henry Coffey) who turns out to be much older. He talks his way into having sex with her. Her best friend happens to see them at the mall and tells the teachers. FBI agent Doug Tate (Jason Clarke) is called in. Will is angry and Annie is in denial. The family struggles under the incrimination.David Schwimmer has a well-made lesson-of-the-week movie. He hits the audience over the head on how sexualized everything is. This is not a subtle movie. The constant drumbeats do wear me out. It's a message movie and Schwimmer won't let you forget it. Liana Liberato is compelling in the lead role. The hotel scene is creepy as hell. Everybody puts out their emotional best. I wish Schwimmer has a more sophisticated style but it's good as a cautionary tale.

Schwimmer crams a lot into his directorial debut: an elaborate and nasty grooming process, social (guilt) references through the workplace and colleague of the (girl's) father, the son who is seemingly favored, revenge sentiments and fantasies, et cetera and so on. So, it aspires to thrill as much as it wants to be dramatically apt, but instead becomes a laborious mix of TV-movie drama meets rape & revenge flick (where the revenge is only in the mind). For me, it never really took off.Liberato's acting ranges from okay to very good, Owen plays pretty much okay, but convinces most in the final scene, and the rest of the cast keeps up nicely. And although no less than the first half hour is just about the grooming, it still didn't convince me somehow. Then there's a lot of going back and forth between the different characters of the father and daughter, the investigation, and back to the father / mother relationship; it all felt a bit messy.All in all not bad, really, but also not a stunner by a long shot. 5 out of 10.